Commitments made following the Black Lives Matter movement of summer 2020 failed to generate “embedded, structural change” in the UK TV industry, according to the latest Diamond diversity report.
Paul Moore, chair of the Creative Diversity Network (CDN), which compiles the annual reports, said the recent decline in representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people both on and off screen shows progress has “stalled or drifted backward” since broadcasters made major promises more than five years ago.
According to the report, the percentage of on-screen roles taken by Black, Asian and minority ethnic actors and presenters has plateaued since 2022 at 23.2%, while off-screen it has fallen by 1 percentage point to 13%. The latter figure is comfortably below the 17.9% national workforce average.
Sparked by the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement initially felt as though it was having a long-lasting impact across the pond. All broadcasters unveiled lofty commitments to improve diversity on and off-screen, while the topic dominated chatter at that year’s Edinburgh TV Festival amid critiques of sluggish diversity gains in an industry dominated by gatekeepers from privileged backgrounds.
Diamond’s findings will therefore be a big disappointment to those at the coalface of improving representation for non-white people in the UK TV industry. They come a year after a weighty study found that Black professionals were experiencing systemic racism and faltering career progression, despite years of industry diversity initiatives.
Of all the major networks based in the UK, Paramount, which owns Channel 5 (now 5), had the lowest proportion of contributions from Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, with the BBC top for on-screen and Channel 4 off-screen.
The proportion of non-white people in senior roles has also fallen since 2022 to 12% and remains stubbornly at 2019 levels, the report found. Last year, this group took up only 10.9% of executive producer roles, for example.
There were some green shoots, such as lead actors from non-white backgrounds hitting 34.9% last year, almost double the national workforce average, while writers from non-white backgrounds was up at 21.3%.
But ultimately, Moore said Diamond’s tracking of UK TV industry diversity data over the past nine years shows flatlining progress.
“The real power of Diamond lies in its ability to look beyond headlines and track changes over time to expose where progress has stalled or drifted backward,” said Moore, who is communications and corporate affairs chief at ITV. “For example, the recent decline in Black representation suggests that initial commitments made following the Black Lives Matter movement did not lead to embedded, structural change.”
Earlier this year, the CDN revealed it was revamping Diamond, allowing for improved reporting, which will come into force later this year.
